From: Andrew Williams andrewms@Capaccess.org
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 5:48 PM
To: arnold@trebach.com
Subject: Your Recent Letter

Dear Arnold:

I recently read the letter you posted on trebach.org. Here's the paragraphs that stuck out for me:

"In the awful new world jungle in which we now find ourselves, the time has arrived, I am saddened to say, to formally put the country and this society in a perpetual state of war against all those who would harm our citizens."

That is exactly what Bush is proposing--what Nicholas von Hoffman calls "War Without End." The problem with such a proposal is it smacks of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth"--a policy which will leave the world blind and toothless. We have yet to acknowledge that our foreign policy in the Middle East has been malign and has caused much of the Muslim world to view us as terrorists. No one nation can solve other nations' problems. As Krishnamurti said, you must find peace within yourself before you can bring it to others. And you and I both know this country has a long way to go in that regard.

"As part of that condition, the federal government must frame and openly enunciate clear legal justification for covert, fatal action by both intelligence and military forces that oppose those who wage war against us by unconventional means."

This would almost certainly open the door even wider to allow more such actions to occur under the aegis of fighting the so-called War on Drugs (more accurately, War on Some People with Some Drugs, as long as they're not, say, Afghani opium farmers). Waco was one result of such legislation--the false accusations of a methamphetamine lab was the primary excuse to go in. We're already living in a police state--I see no reason to advocate that the police/military give themselves even greater powers than they already have.

Daniel Pearl--from what I've read--was a good man. If he truly believed in truth and love, then he would not want to see bloodshed and violence as the result of his death. For that seems to be exactly what his killers want. And if we react in the way they wish us to, then it will truly be a "war without end" where the survivors will truly envy the dead.

This is the first time I've ever found cause to disagree with you. I hope that, at least, we can agree to disagree on this one issue.

Best wishes Andrew